Thursday, May 27, 2010

Camps!!

Just got the schedule for the upcoming Zoo Camps. Jr. Zoologist is going to be a blast!!
Except...

We have to tear into squid. Dissect, they call it nowadays. Don't get me wrong, I've stuck my knife in plenty of things and wiggled around gooey stuff in my life but it had always served a purpose. In Animal biology we had to use certain parts of the frog to learn anatomy as well as study the strength of the heart by piercing the ventricle with a hook. Tricky business that...
In Animal Physiology we had to study the Rat and monitor the amount of oxygen and other things that are found in the liver. We also took other parts and did multiple experiments with its intestines. Only one Rat was killed for the name of science and it was done humanely. It simply fell asleep.

Even in these times I struggled. I had to tell myself that if any of my excuses weren't good enough it could boil down to one absolute truth: It was for a Grade. A grade that I needed in order to graduate from College. The College I was paying a lot to attend so I could graduate and have it's rather grand reputation under my belt (and on the resume).

Now we have to dissect squid. When I asked why we had to I got the initial response of "Because it's fun!!"

BECAUSE IT IS FUN!?!???!!

I really don't care if it is FUN or not. I care that this poor animal is not being put to good use (like food maybe??!! EVER THOUGHT OF THAT?!) but instead is going to be subjected to the poking and prodding of 13 year old kids.

"It's already dead, it can't feel anything."

Don't even GET ME STARTED ON THAT STATEMENT!!

Too late...

If that is the case then is life sacred at all? Who cares what we do to the body, eh? Just dump it. It's dead, it can't feel anything.

I know that i shouldn't elevate this tiny creature to the importance of humans, and I am not, but I am elevating it to the point where cruelty and desecration of any kind should be seen as appalling and rather juvenile. Yes, I understand that they are juveniles but I also feel that if we let them HAVE AT IT and tear into this tiny organism I am simply planting the seed, watering it, and Hell, why not add some fertilizer to the growth of future sociopaths?!

I know, I'm being a bit dramatic, but if it was a puppy I think we'd all have to agree with me that this is just a sick sick practice. This is summer camp for goodness sakes.

Have I kept silent? No. I've talked with the Head Guy and expressed my hesitation at doing the squid dissection and it's still on the schedule. Today I had to participate and listen to the blabbering of a neanderthal who of course retracted from his previous statements after I stared at him, jaw dropped, and stuttering out a echo of his own stupidity.

It isn't fun, good sir, to stick a probe into it's body and slice away its gonads.

It isn't fun, good sir, to squeeze it's beak out so you can drag the poor thing's stomach out for your delight. Why do we do this? Does this have anything to do with the dissection? Does this have anything to do with the work sheet?

Oh, we don't have to use the worksheet if we don't want to..

Well, if I have to participate in this then I shall indeed have them follow the worksheet, after a nice lecture about respect and how to conduct oneself in a lab.